Boston College, Union picked to win conference hockey titles

Defending NCAA champion Boston College is picked to win Hockey East for the fifth consecutive year in a preseason coaches' poll.

The Eagles got nine of 10 first-place votes; New Hampshire got the other one.

BC beat the Gophers 6-1 in the national semifinals in Tampa, Fla., then beat Ferris State for its third national title in five years. The Eagles return 19 players, including Frozen Four MVP Parker Milner, a goalie, and Hockey East MVP Johnny Gaudreau. He is a freshman forward who has as big an impact at BC as Kyle Rau had for the Gophers.

BC will play the Gophers on the second day of the U's Mariucci Classic shortly before New Year's Day. The Eagles won the regular-season and conference titles last season in Hockey East.

Hockey East's preseason coaches' poll:

1. Boston College (9), 90

2. UMass Lowell, 74

3. Boston University, 73

4. New Hampshire (1), 63

5. Maine, 56

6. Northeastern, 44
Providence, 44

8. Merrimack, 38

9. Massachusetts, 35

10. Vermont, 23

DUTCHMEN FAVORED IN ECAC

The ECAC preseason coaches' poll:

1. Union (8), 118

2. Cornell (3), 110

3. Harvard (1), 98

4. Quinnipiac, 93

5. Yale, 77

6. St. Lawrence, 61

7. Dartmouth, 58

8. RPI, 46

9. Colgate, 45

10. Clarkson, 41

11. Princeton, 25

12. Brown, 20

Comments: Union played in the Frozen Four last season, losing in the semifinals to Ferris State. The Dutchmen have their goalie back, Troy Grosenick. Union's 1.83 goals-against average was the nation's best.

Last season the Dutchmen won the ECAC regular-season and tournament titles.

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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow @RomanStrib on Twitter. E-mail Roman.